Sensor interface IC enables next-gen intelligent electrochemical sensors

Believed to be the only IC that incorporates potentiostat and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) functionality on a single chip, the ADuCM355 has been released by Analog Devices.

The precision analogue microcontroller with bio-sensor and chemical sensor is designed for applications such as industrial gas sensing, instrumentation, vital signs monitoring and disease management. According to the company, it features the industry’s most advanced sensor diagnostics, best-in-class low noise and low power performance, and smallest form factor. Unlike traditional discrete solutions, it does not need multiple ICs to achieve similar performance, for increased reliability and cost savings.

It combines the high performance, low power, small form factor and feature set needed to enable next generation portable gas detectors and to set new benchmarks in reliable gas detection while minimising the cost of ownership, said Jacob Spector, global marketing manager, Portable Gas Detection for Honeywell Industrial Safety.

It has been used by PalmSens for mobile gas detection: “PalmSens is committed to make electrochemistry easier, more portable and more accessible,” said Niels van Velzen, CTO at PalmSens. “ADI’s ADuCM355 is at the heart of the new EmStat Pico, the world’s smallest general purpose electrochemical interface module. EmStat Pico is a hardware and software design platform that allows measurement in minutes and is ideal for the development of portable, wearable and space constrained sensor applications,” he added.

The ADuCM355 low power precision analogue microcontroller is based on the ARM Cortex M3 processor, with 26MHz core, 128kbyte Flash and 64kbyte SRAM. Designed to control and measure chemical and biosensors, it supports dual potentiostat (8.5-micro A, 1.6-microV RMS) and three or more sensor electrodes.  It has a flexible, 16-bit, 400ksamples per second measurement channel.

There are advanced sensor diagnostics and integrated analogue hardware accelerators, integrated into the 72-pin LGA package, measuring 6.0 x 5.0mm.•

The ADuCM355 is sampling now, with production quantities available.

http://www.analog.com

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Cypress and Semtech link up to produce two-chip module for smart city applications

Cypress Semiconductor Corp has collaborated with Semtech Corporation on a compact, two-chip LoRaWAN-based module deployed by Onethinx.

The highly integrated Onethinx module suits smart city applications that integrate multiple sensors and are in harsh radio environments. Using Cypress’ PSoC 6 microcontroller’s (MCU) hardware-based secure element functionality and Semtech’s LoRa devices and wireless radio frequency technology (LoRa Technology), the solution enables a multi-layer security architecture that isolates trust anchors for highly protected device-to-cloud connectivity.

In addition, the PSoC 6 MCU’s integrated Bluetooth low energy (BLE) connectivity provides a low-power, out-of-band control channel.

Cypress says the PSoC 6 device is the industry’s lowest power, most flexible Arm Cortex-M dual-core MCU with a power slope down to 22-microA/MHz active power for the Cortex-M4 core. The device is a natural fit with Semtech’s latest LoRa radio chip family, which offers 50 per cent power savings in receive mode and 20 per cent longer range over previous-generation devices.

Security is a primary concern for many smart city applications. The Onethinx module uses the integrated secure element functionality in the PSoC 6 MCU to give each LoRaWAN-based device a secret identity to securely boot, on-board, and deliver data to the cloud application.

Using its mutual authentication capabilities, the PSoC 6 MCU-based, LoRa-equipped device can also receive authenticated over-the-air firmware updates.

Key provisioning and management services are provided by Internet of Things’ security provider and member of the Bosch group, ESCRYPT, for a complete end-to-end, secure LoRaWAN solution.

The module, offered by Cypress partner Onethinx, connects to Bosch Sensortec’s cross domain development kit (XDK) for micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) sensors and to the provisioning system from ESCRYPT to securely connect.

“With its long range and low power capabilities in a compact footprint, Semtech’s LoRa Technology is ideal for vertical applications,” said Vivek Mohan, director of IoT in Semtech’s Wireless and Sensing Products Group. “Combining LoRa Technology with Cypress’ PSoC 6 MCU in a purpose-built IoT module will accelerate the delivery of leading-edge IoT solutions for smarter cities and a smarter planet.”

“Devices for LoRaWAN networks need to be secure to protect the data they generate and process,” said Jack Ogawa, senior director of marketing for the MCU business unit at Cypress. “We’re excited to work with LoRaWAN ecosystem members to offer developers the unique combination of secure PSoC 6 MCUs and Semtech’s new lower power, longer range LoRa technology to address smart city applications.”

http://www.cypress.com

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Linear LED controllers do not require inductors for signage and smart-lighting

Diodes offers the AL5814, AL5817, AL5815 and AL5816 linear LED controllers, claimed to deliver dimmable and adjustable drive current for LED strings with more than 80 per cent efficiency. The AL58xx series provides a low bill of materials cost for a range of applications in the commercial and industrial areas including signage, instrumentation illumination, lighting of appliance interiors, architectural details and general smart-lighting installations.

Input range is 4.5 to 60V. The AL5814, AL5817, AL5815 and AL5816 linear LED controllers do not require inductors and maintain good EMI performance, making system integration simpler. Internal power dissipation is also minimised compared with other designs due to an external power transistor, says Diodes. The AL58xx series is capable of providing up to 15mA to an external MOSFET or bipolar transistor to drive LED strings. The LED drive current is configured by an external resistor with four per cent reference voltage accuracy and excellent temperature stability. In addition, the AL5815 and AL5816 devices support PWM diming, while the AL5814 and AL5817 devices support both analogue and pulse width modulation (PWM) dimming.

Protection features include over-temperature and input under-voltage lock-out. The AL5814 and AL5817 devices also provide ‘LED open’ protection via a Vfault pin, as well as LED thermal fold-back protection.

The linear controllers exhibits good EMI performance and the wide temperature range of -40 to +105 degree C enables the parts to also operate in harsh environments.

The AL58xx series is available in SOT-25 and thermally-enhanced MSOP-8EP packages. 

Diodes manufactures and supplies application specific standard products within the broad discrete, logic, analogue and mixed-signal semiconductor markets. Diodes serves the consumer electronics, computing, communications, industrial, and automotive markets.

The company’s portfolio includes diodes, rectifiers, transistors, MOSFETs, protection devices, function-specific arrays, single gate logic, amplifiers and comparators, Hall-effect and temperature sensors, power management devices, including LED drivers, AC/DC converters and controllers, DC/DC switching and linear voltage regulators, and voltage references along with special function devices, such as USB power switches, load switches, voltage supervisors, and motor controllers. Diodes also has timing, connectivity, switching, and signal integrity solutions for high-speed signals.

Corporate headquarters and Americas’ sales office are located in Plano, Texas and Milpitas, California, USA. Design, marketing, and engineering centres are located in Plano, Milpitas, Taipei, Taoyuan City, and Zhubei City, Taiwan; Manchester, England; and Neuhaus, Germany.

Diodes’ wafer fabrication facility is located in Manchester, with an additional facility located in Shanghai, China. Diodes has assembly and test facilities located in Shanghai, Jinan, Chengdu, and Yangzhou, China, as well as in Hong Kong, Neuhaus and Taipei.

http://www.diodes.com

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Software brings Amazon Alexa to connected objects

The X-Cube-AVS software package from STMicroelectronics enables Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service (AVS) to run on STM32 microcontrollers This means, simple connected objects such as smart appliances, home-automation devices, and office products, can support advanced conversational user interfaces with Cloud-based intelligence like automatic speech recognition and natural-language understanding.

The expansion package for the STM32Cube software platform, X-Cube-AVS contains ready-to-use libraries and open routines that accelerate porting the AVS software development kit (SDK) to the microcontroller. Application samples are also included. The software abstracts developers from the complex software layers needed to host AVS on an embedded device. STMicroelectronics claims that this is the first package to cater specifically for microcontrollers. In contrast, AVS development usually targets more power-hungry and expensive microprocessors. As a result, X-Cube-AVS makes Alexa technology accessible to a wider spectrum of developers and projects, says STMicroelectronics.

The software handles low-layer communication and connection to AVS servers. It provides application-specific services, and encapsulates the AVS protocol to ease application implementation. Connection management includes a persistent-token mechanism for directly restoring connection losses without repeated user authentication. A software test harness is for endurance testing, which can simulate events such as network disconnection to facilitate robustness testing and validation of the user application.

X-Cube-AVS comes with a demonstration example for the STM32F769 Discovery kit which shows how to connect a simple smart-speaker to AVS, leveraging the board-configuration interface included in the software. X-Cube-AVS can be used with other STM32F7 microcontrollers, or any STM32 device with adequate CPU performance and memory to run the AVS SDK.

X-Cube-AVS is available now to download, free of charge, from the STMicroelectronics website.

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About Smart Cities

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